It's the future! And humanity is, predictably, under attack by extraterrestrial forces. Lucky for us we have an experimental ship that's never before been flown that will surely...uh, possibly...well, implausibly be able to win the war! All we need now is a pilot or two.

Buy Procyon

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About This Game

It's the future! And humanity is, predictably, under attack by extraterrestrial forces. Lucky for us we have an experimental ship that's never before been flown that will surely...uh, possibly...well, implausibly be able to win the war! All we need now is a pilot or two.

Key Features

Fight through five increasingly-populated shoot-em-up stages

Destroy a plethora of enemies (or, as we like to call them, "potential explosions")

Switch between two distinct weapons on the fly: bullets for lots of damage over lots of space and a locking beam for concentrating on those hard-to-reach areas!

Use your shields to zip unharmed through enemy attacks!

Overcharge your weapons on the fly for even more destructive power!

Original faux-orchestral soundtrack is like music to your ears! Because it IS music. For your ears.

Multiple game modes, from the start-at-any-level normal mode up to "I have but one life to give for my planet" survival mode.

Local co-op allows you and a friend (or even a complete stranger that you're willing to invite into your home, if you want) to team up and deliver double the delicious destruction!

Support for playing in portrait orientation for a true top-down shmup experience!

System Requirements

Minimum:

OS: Windows XP

Memory: 1 GB RAM

Graphics: DirectX 9.0c-compatible GPU with support for Shader Model 3.0

From my point of view Procyon is the greatest shmup on steam because it has got no flaws at all.

It offers a highly enjoyable coop mode, beautiful, sharp graphics and great lighting effects. The amazing orchestral soundtrack uses one characteristic and short motive in all stages.

Even the hilarious background story is thought provoking and really well written: " We are humans, we're REMARKABLY GOOD at fighting and we fought back / Unfortunately, we're humans. We are REMARKABLY BAD at ressource management!"

This game for this ridiculous low price deserves your attention. It's deeply accessible, features easy / hard modes and therefore it will please casual players and even veterans.

I can't praise enough the hard work of Josh Jersild, the developer of this little gem.This guy did all the programming, the hilarious voiceovers, the great score and the modeling / texturing ON HIS OWN in his spare time but this game that easily stands out from the rest doesn't feel like homebrew.

Just check the other reviews on the store page! This tasty, delicious cake can hardly be a lie!!

Procyon is a real treat. What's important in Shmups is mechanics and difficulty. The mechanics are tight and you get a good mix of gunplay and enemies to test your skills. Like most Shmups the game is short, but the funny narration, multiple modes, and progressive difficulty will give you enough reason to play this game a lot more than once. When it comes to enjoyable Shmups worth your time, I'd give it a 9/10.

As a fun of SHMUPS, this is a great addition to my library. It's short, but at $4 not on discount its a great price for a fun game. 5 stages, and 3 levels of difficulty. Also has multiple modes (standard, suvival, Attrition, and one other that escapes me). All have their own online leaderboard for each of the difficulty settings. Story is pretty basic as most SHMUPS are, but its at least funny writing which I aprpeciate it. Worth a pick up if you like the genre.

Well... I can say only one word: Fantastic! This game is so perfect to play when bored. Simple, few modes, nice graphic and that feeling: I must pass the level :DFor now it's my favorite arcade game :)

Amazingly fun shmup! Love the humour and the difficulty settings are perfect. Have played through on easy and working on beating the final boss on normal... looking forward to getting smoked in hard mode :) Pick this game up it's a real treat!

Not sure when Shoot 'Em Ups became Shmups (sounds more like 'Schmucks' to me), but anyways perhaps the brevity is more appropriate for Procyon since it is very short at only 5 levels. For veteran Shoot 'Em Up players out there you might find Procyon less challenging than some of the brutal contenders currently on the market, but that's not to say that it is not an enjoyable experience.

Graphically, it looks sharp with high def effects & backdrops (no 8-bit look here) with sound effects & soundtrack holding strong too. Comes together very well. Controls are intuitive, allowing you to switch between your standard wide bullets to your concentrated beam weapon in an instant. The weapon & shield system implementation was one of the strong points for me. The weapons are linked into your shields and when combined offers a power-up damage to clear your path ahead. Beam weapon also arcs & bends which is a nice effect and allows you to still move around somewhat without loosing out on damaging your target.

For those that don't skip through the mini-story cutscenes there is also some humour to be had (worth watching through at least once).

On the negative side, I did find the boss fights a bit average; not bad but not really exciting either. Also an online co-op mode would have been awesome so I could play with friends around the world. With the duality in the weapons I could see online co-op being a lot of fun! Also, as I said earlier the game is very short. The 5 levels took me about 30 mins to complete first time through (and that was watching the cut-scenes!). Thankfully there is replayablity with higher difficulty levels in Attrition (5 lives + 1 per level completed) & Survival (1 life only!) to conquer.

For the price, overall quality & fun factor of this little title, this still gets a 'Thumbs Up' from me.

I personally feel that Procyon is not very difficult comparing with other bullet curtain games I played before, yet the smooth movement, ease of control and nice soundtrack still make me enjoy the game. It's might be good for those who are looking for relaxing light game and achievement collector.

I have once seen this game on Desura, and I played the Demo, however I was unable to buy the full version so a member of the developer's family who's nickname was Claggy gave it to me for free. I played the game for quite a while, but today I saw that it has just come out on Steam, so I bought it instantly. Procyon is a very nicely polished game, with pretty visuals and some really nice gameplay, especially on higher difficulty levels. The story is also quite entertaining, as you will figure out just after watching the first scene. In Procyon there is a wide variety of different enemies, all with their very own way of attacking you, aswell as a boss at the end of every level. Of course the boss is also different depending on the level, so gameplay is not repetitive and the pretty nice soundtrack adds a good layer of extra polishment to the game. I do definitely recommend it, at least to everybody who either likes this genre, or to people who just really enjoy funny cutscenes. :)

Procyon is a very good indie 'shmup that fans of the genre should enjoy.

As a fan of these type of games, I judge them on 3 main factors. First is it's "uniqueness". One of my favorite shmups/bullet-hell games of all time is Ikaruga b/c of how it took a classic game formula and twisted it and made it something new to play. This is probably one of Procyon's biggest drawbacks. There is not much to seperate it from other side-scrolling games of its ilk. This is not to say it's a bad game, on the contrary. It just doesn't do anything differently. The second factor is control. Games like these require tight and precise controls especially when the going gets hairy. Procyon has controlling down pat. I was able to jump right in and was able to pilot my ship and not once have I been disappointed by the controls. Thirdly, is fun-factor. Procyon is a fun game and has the right level of arcade challenge to keep me wanting to retry immediately when I fail. A good way to describe this game is a "meat and potatoes" shoot-em-up. I would have liked to seen more variety in weapons, but Im also not incredibly far into the game so that may change.

This game is definitely one that can be defined as "indie" in respect to looks alone. The design is very simple with ships not having a whole lot of pizazz or graphical oomph. I don't play these games to be wowed by graphics, so this is a minimal knock for me, but others that judge games purely on looks will probably not find much about Procyon. Lighting is well done and when there are a lot of enemies on screen with different colored beams going off its definitely eye candy. I also liked some of the stage backgrounds i.e. Empire City. Nothing extraordinary, but eye catching and adds to the level. Enemy design is mostly simple, and there's a particular enemy that looked to me like a Playstation controller. Whether this was intentional or not, I don't know, but its something that caught my eye.

A very strong aspect of the game is the soundtrack. I find soundtracks in games like these to be more important than in other genres and Procyon's music to be excellent. A AAA developer would be happy to have this quality of a soundtrack in its game. The fact that it's in a shoot-em-up makes me very happy and will keep me playing.

Steamworks integration is very much appreciated. With card drops and achievements, this will add to the game's replayability. I love the fact it tracks high scores as well, as I consider this to be a staple of this genre.

All-in-all I recommend Procyon most especially to 'shmup fans. It's a classic side scroller and does pack a challenge as you go further on into the game. The music is awesome and adds to the gameplay experience. I also think that it's $3.99 price point is pretty much right for a game like this.

The earth is threatened by an alien fleet! It is up to you, a brave human with balls of steel to save it from annihilation by piloting the Procyon, a completely untested ship that can blow up if it gets hit by "anything harder than a punch". Navigate through the 5 levels trying to repel the alien fleet and destroy their point of origin. Your weapons are an array of bullets, a beam that can somewhat bend to target a single enemy and a shield that temporarily also strengthens your weapons, which is a somewhat interesting mechanic. Note that you can alternate between landscape and portait view depending on what appeals more to you. Overall it is a pleasant game for some casual retro fun, in my opinion.

+ Old school arcade action+ Over the top voice acting, which is pretty amusing+ Writing is funny at times+ Difficulty scales well+ 4 modes to choose from (arcade/survival/attrition/practice)

- Ship movement can be a bit sluggish- No ship upgrades or powerups- Short (only 5 levels), counts for length on replayability in other modes/difficulties

Warning: If you play with a mouse and keyboard, lenghty sessions can lead to carpal tunnel syndrome. Take it easy.

this is a really good game. it may seem like a short game, however, the game holds that replay value. it's a good game. i love bullet hell games. for those of you who love bullet hell games, then you might like this game. also, the music is fantastic. very good game and music.